On their way to Coachella, Sleigh Bells dropped by Phoenix for their first show in the Valley in three years. The gig sold out and the place was packed full of girls dressed like rock stars. It was one loud, flashy roller coaster ride -- packaged perfectly for a venue like Crescent Ballroom, but there were some downsides.

Ejecta, a small girl with homegrown bleached blonde hair and a white guitar smeared in Halloween blood, gave the night the ideal context. Her soft, doe-like voice floated into drum machine beats and angelic chords traced with reverb.

She carried into a track with a kicking bass, resonating like a Ritalin comedown. Ejecta interjected a series of synth drops juxtaposed against static-heavy guitar.

Ejecta performs at Crescent Ballroom last night.

Ejecta's set almost felt filtered through toy amplifiers via a Kate Bush structure, and this actually made it more attractive. If only the people behind me weren't fucking talking! I moved to the other side of the stage, but everyone was chatting there too! Someone needs to bring a Taser to these things.

I noticed Sleigh Bells had some gigantic amps. This worried me because I had volunteered my earplugs to a cute girl in front of me. Plus, obviously these venues have to turn the volume up to an 11 to drown out the morons who think they're in a movie or something. Thanks, Crescent!